The French prime minister has resorted to a rarely used emergency procedure to push through labour market reforms without a parliamentary vote... The Socialists have a majority, but now face a confidence vote on Thursday. The reforms will be adopted automatically if the government wins the vote.

Geneva's public prosecutor searched HSBC's lakeside Swiss office on Wednesday after opening a criminal inquiry into allegations of aggravated money laundering, the second probeto hit the bank this week.

The Islamist-backed faction in Libya’s civil conflict said Tuesday that it had carried out its first airstrike, targeting opponents in the town of Zintan in an escalation of the violence tearing the country apart.